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UK ShowCase 2004
FUJIFILM SPONSORS NEW BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY INITIATIVE
“What we want to do is go out and sell
the British film service industry as an entity.”
I t seems such an obvious idea that you wonder why no-one
has thought of it before. But a new initiative under the work- ing title UK ShowCase 2004 is being put together that will ‘sell’ the British film service
industry to America.
The aim is to promote British visu-
al effects houses, post production facilities, film laboratories, stock man- ufacturers, studios, location man- agers, post production supervisors and camera equipment companies to productions that might shoot their principal photography on these shores and then regrettably go else- where to post produce it.
The project is the brainchild of Mike Fraser, Vice Chairman of the BKSTS, who has had little trouble elic- iting enthusiastic support from all cor- ners of the industry for this simple, but very important initiative.
“When Michael Grade helped me launch this idea he said that since get- ting into the feature film business he has realised the British film service industry is one our best kept secrets.
“Unfortunately it’s a secret we’ve been very good at keeping. What we want to do is go out and tell the world, go out and sell the British film service industry as an entity. The industry is quite busy at the moment, so now is the
time to do it. It’s no good going out when you’re not busy, pleading for work.”
So it is those companies who
would more usually be vying for busi- ness in competition with each other who are standing shoulder to shoulder to sell the idea of UK based produc- tion from start to finish.
Fraser and his colleagues will be taking this message to the US, to the very backyard of American companies who regularly call upon the services of British casts and crews when they shoot films in the UK.
“We’re going to make a splash in Los Angeles towards the end of 2004,” he confirms, enthusiastically noting that the support so far has been whol- ly positive from prospective sponsors who would each be set to benefit from the success of this idea.
“The British Film Council are very interested too. Steve Norris the British Film Commissioner has written me a very positive letter in which he puts forward the notion of a joint UK Film Council/Showcase co-ordinating group to ‘bring added value, assistance or financial support to the project’.”
With Fujifilm acting as a major spon- sor and many other companies keen to find out more about how it will work, the ground rules for UK ShowCase 2004 are still being established. Fraser explains that the process will be as
democratic as possible, with major decisions put to the vote and then tai- lored to suit the majority rather than offered as a fait accompli.
“Sponsors usually have no say in how something is run,” Fraser continues, “but here we’ve done things the other way round, asking how they want it run.
“The major questions that they need answers to, are: who is the target audience? Where and when shall we hold it? How will we get the audience there? And what will it be made up of?
“Those questions are also going to be answered by the 60 or so compa- nies that we’ve met and spoken to and our thesis will be based upon what they tell us.”
Fraser envisages that the initiative will, once established, be a permanent part of the ongoing commitment to films produced in the UK. 2004, he stresses, is the start not the end of the process.
“It’s about time we went out and boldly declared to the world our quali- ties as a film service industry. We’re going to go out and say we are really, really good at what we do, so if you’re going to film on this side of the Atlantic make it here.
“And I’m wording that very careful- ly because I don’t want the American production and post production com- panies to think that we’re going to pinch films from them. We’re not.
“The American industry will always make a percentage of its films abroad, so of those that they make on this side of the Atlantic why not look at us first? Apart from anything else it’s a sound business decision.”
Considering the British film serv- ice industry routinely copes with Bond movies, Harry Potter films, and even the post production of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, it’s hard to think of it being unable to meet the needs of any major production.
Expressing this view clearly and confidently is Fraser’s aim, and apart from the good will - together with the more tangible sponsorship - of the whole industry he is hoping for some support from government too.
“The DTI have various depart- ments which help in that way. The financial resources that a production has can be better used if there are tax incentives in this country for them. I was involved with a film recently that had a $40 million budget, and half of that was spent here.
“That money trickles down into various local service companies and other businesses. Above all, the film industry has a high profile, and that’s a very good thing for government to support because it really promotes our name overseas.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Photos above l-r: Mike Fraser at the UK ShowCase 2004 launch with attendees; and Michael Grade
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